When only bluegrass banjo will do

There are times when the news, both at home and abroad, is so bleak, stupid and depressing that you need an escape.

At such times, in my personal opinion, only hot-fingered bluegrass banjo will do. Hit it!

Whoops, wrong speed. (Notice how it sounds strangely like traditional Chinese music?)

Arthur Smith, who we are about to hear at 45 rpm, was Nashville royalty. Born in 1921, son of a North Carolina cotton-mill hand and a factory boy himself until music set him free, Smith absorbed jazz and combined it with American country and sheer instrumental virtuosity.

Arthur Smith. Image: From The Vaults

His biggest hit came in the late 1940s, “Guitar Boogie”, which became his nickname ever after. (There were other Arthur Smiths out there, you see, including a contemporary country musician, Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith.)

Any-hoo. In 1974, Arthur “Boogie Guitar” Smith turned his attention to the five-string banjo, and released this track, “Just Joshin’”.

At a time when you are reading about Trump’s border wall, Brexit and the exposure of sexual predators – everywhere from disgusting men in positions of power and influence, to other disgusting men in positions of power and influence – brothers and sisters, we need hot-fingered bluegrass banjo.

So, speed corrected – let’s try that again.